Victoria Tasmania District of the Lutheran Church of Australia

1201 Riversdale Road
Box Hill South VIC 3128
Phone 03 9236 1200

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New Role at LCAVD

Toward the end of last year, you may have seen that the LCA has restructured Safe Church training, with the roles of LCA Professional Standards Officers coming to an end (LCA eNews).

We are delighted that Denise Muschamp, previously the LCA Vic-Tas Professional Standards Officer, has now joined the LCAVD team as our new Relationship Manager and Compliance Coordinator (two days a week).

In this new role, Denise will facilitate regular discussion between congregation leaders and District Office.  She will be phoning office bearers to listen to any questions or concerns, and help the District Office team more fully understand each community under our care.

Denise will also assist in the area of Safe Church, supporting the entities of the District to understand their obligations to and implement their compliance of the LCA Standards of Ethical Behaviour and Safe Church practices.  Specifically, Denise will support your Safe Church Coordinator, ensuring any required support is being sourced from and/or provided via the LCA Professional Standards Department.

Denise will also act in the position of Risk Management Officer (RMO) for the LCA Vic-Tas District.

Denise can be contacted via email at: denise.muschamp@lca.org.au

Congregational Multi-Cultural Awareness Day

Change is something that no-one relishes (except, as the saying goes, if you are a baby with a wet nappy!). Our Lutheran Church of Australia, indeed God’s Church on earth, is undergoing a huge shift in how we “do” church in the post-Christendom era. Old paradigms no longer work, and Australia is increasingly becoming a very secular country.

Nevertheless, God is still working amongst his people and has brought hundreds of thousands of people to our shores in recent times – people whom he loves dearly and for whom he has paid the price for sin on the cross, so that he might bring them to himself.

No longer do we need to go overseas to be missionaries; we have the people coming to our neighbourhoods, many of whom have never heard of God’s great love. “Redeemer” Glen Waverley, a campus of Nunawading and Waverley Lutheran Church, has been working towards ministering to the overwhelming number of settlers from mainland China, in particular, but generally with all new settlers. How do we do this? How can we be more effective? These are questions that we have struggled with.

Craig Heidenreich, LCA Cross-Cultural Ministry

Recently, a grant from the Victorian District Cross-Cultural Ministry provided us with the opportunity to hold a Workshop, to help us unpack these questions with Craig Heidenreich (right) of the LCA’s Cross-Cultural Ministry department. Our Pastor, Tim Castle-Schmidt, presented a demographic overview of China, followed by Craig’s presentation. Craig has a great love for the stranger in our midst and provided us with practical strategies we can use when the Lord brings them into our path as we go about our everyday lives. The simplest of things, such as a smile, a ‘hello’ in their language, and learning their name, can help a person to feel noticed and welcomed.

Sherry Hong, Nunawading-Waverley Lay Worker

We are blessed to have in our congregational a lay-worker, Sherry Hong, who comes from mainland China. Sherry and a small group of friends of the congregation helped us to make dumplings and cooked a wonderful lunch for us. After this, Sherry explained aspects of Chinese culture to us, helping us to better understand the worldview of the Chinese people in Glen Waverley and how we can communicate better.

Making dumplings

As Australian Christians we have a unique opportunity to share our faith with newcomers. As Craig has said, we need to think of them as individuals whom God loves dearly, rather than as a group of Chinese/Sri Lankans/Afghanis etc. Perhaps the Lord is asking us to open our arms, and perhaps he is asking us to do things quite differently than we have ever done them before? It takes courage, but the Lord is with us and goes before us if we but ask him.

Photos supplied by Susanne Hudson

God’s Word is Our Great Heritage

It’s great to celebrate the heritage of the church. This week we celebrate the festival of the Reformation. Last weekend I attended the 100th anniversary of the dedication of Zion Lutheran Church in Walla Walla, NSW, where I had served as pastor in the 1990s.

The current church building, whose dedication in 1924 was attended by over 3,000 people, was the third Lutheran church building in Walla Walla. The previous two were outgrown as the congregation increased in number.

It wasn’t just the building’s heritage that was celebrated last Sunday. Before the service, worshippers were reminded of the heritage of faith that was passed down through the generations. So important was the Christian faith to the original families who arrived in covered wagons after a long trek from the Barossa Valley, that they had put their resources into building a ‘house of God’ for worship before they built houses for themselves. Current worshippers expressed their thanks for the way that their forebears had diligently passed the Christian faith down throughout the generations.

After serving as pastor in that community for over eight years, revisiting Walla Walla nearly 25 years later was also a celebration of our heritage as a family. We were part of their heritage, and they ours, for almost a decade of that 100 years.

Beneath all this rests a far greater heritage – the Word of God – as Nikolaj Grundtvig wrote in the hymn, ‘God’s Word is Our Great Heritage’ (LH 266). This hymn is usually sung to the same tune as Martin Luther’s famous hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’.

God’s word is our great heritage,
and shall be ours forever;
to spread its light from age to age
shall be our chief endeavour.
It guides on life’s way,
in death is our stay.
Lord, while worlds endure,
may we retain it pure
throughout all generations.

   

This ‘great heritage’ surpasses that of buildings, history, and people. Peter reminds us, quoting Isaiah 40:8, ‘The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever’ (1 Peter 1:24).

Our ‘chief endeavour’ remains to pass on this great heritage ‘from age to age’ as did the faithful folk of Walla Walla, and of many other places.

There is nothing besides the Word of God of which it can be said, ‘It guides on life’s way, in death is our stay.’

What a blessing it is to hear the apostles and prophets confidently confess, as St Peter did in one of the readings in last Sunday’s anniversary service, ‘For it stands in Scripture…’ (1 Peter 2:6), and to know that we can have the same confidence whenever we read God’s Word.

And, as we give thanks for the great heritage that is God’s Word, may we pray with the hymnwriter, ‘Lord, while worlds endure, may we retain it pure throughout all generations.’

It’s that time of year!

No, I’m not referring to Grand Final weekend, or the sneezy season, or even the forthcoming General Convention of Synod!

Rather I’m reminding us all that it’s now time for Church Councils to conduct another self-assessment and draw up a new Child Safety Standards Action Plan.

Congregations are asked to have a strong culture of child safety, both in attitude and action, and to be continuously reviewing their practices, but every three years, they are to go through a formal process of self-assessment and planning.

What does this mean for each of us as congregational members? This will depend on your role within the congregation – you might have a specific task in this process, or you might be asked to share your thoughts about child safety in your congregation. Everyone in the congregation is responsible for the culture of child safety.

If you are a governance member (Church Council) now is the time to check the Child Safety Standards website Child Safety Standards – Lutheran Church of Australia (lca.org.au) and intentionally schedule the congregation’s response. You will be considering who might be asked to be the assessor(s) and when Church Council can meet to dedicate time to the process. Note that the finalised Child Safety Action Plans are to be submitted by 31/3 2025, so action needs to start now!

Since the first round in 2022, some improvements and adjustments have been made. These were communicated to all congregational chairpersons, and are also explained here.

It is expected that many congregations will have questions and require support as they work through the process. Please contact me as soon as possible so that I can assist you.

Contact Denise via EMAIL, or: 0437 180 928

Wodonga Lutheran Parish Manse Blessing

On Sunday 9th June, it was with great joy that members of the Wodonga Lutheran Parish gathered at 5 Cattanach Way, Leneva for the blessing of the new manse by Pastor Joshua Muller.

The manse was professionally built by Alatalo Bros with funds received from the sale of St Mark’s Church, Yackandandah, in 2022.

This is the first of two major projects for the Wodonga Lutheran Parish scheduled for completion in 2024. The new manse was much needed after the closing of the church in 2023 and subsequent sale of land on which the previous manse was situated in Havelock Street Wodonga. The second project is a beautiful new church to be situated on the grounds of Victory Lutheran College. The large worship centre, due for opening in the coming months, is being funded from the sale of the land and profits from future site development and generous support by John Alatalo’s building company.

The manse is situated in the new suburb of Leneva and is 7km, or a quick 10-minute drive, from the new church on Derwent Way in West Wodonga.

The manse features an all-electric 7-star energy rated home that is complete with double glazing on all windows, an open plan family area, as well as four bedrooms, a separate lounge, double garage, and an alfresco area off the dining room.

We give thanks to God for the delivery of this beautiful new home. May it be a peaceful place to be enjoyed by our present Pastor Joshua Muller, and for those who may come in the future.

The Building Committee – from LtoR: Rhonda Keller, Jenny Simboras, Pastor Joshua Muller, John Donker and Tim McInnes.

Pastor Muller opening the manse door.

Some of the congregation members gathered at the opening.

Embarking on a Mission: A Recap of the LCA-NZ Collaborative Mission Retreat

One of the privileges of my role is working collaboratively with a wide range of members of the LCANZ. This includes my interstate pastor colleagues Ian Rentsch (NSW), David Schmidt (QLD), and Stephen Schultz (SA).

As part of our support role to the Bishops, we recently organised a 3-day collaborative mission leaders’ retreat. Thirty-five staff from the LCANZ and Districts were able to gather in Sydney for a time of prayer, reflection, brainstorming, and collaboration. Bishops, mission directors, pastors, and laypeople were all part of the mix.

Our key goals were to pray for each other, for our leaders, and for the pressing issues facing the LCA-NZ. We wanted to set aside time to prayerfully reflect on our service as leaders, the ministry and mission context of the LCANZ, and to discern God’s guidance. The retreat also aimed to provide spiritual refreshment to those in attendance.

On day one, the focus was on taking stock of the current landscape, naming the many challenges, and getting real about the issues.

What really struck a chord, though, was the reading from Mark 6:45-56, where Jesus joins the disciples, who are ‘straining against the oars’ in the midst of a wild storm.

We spent considerable time reflecting on the story:

45 Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

47 Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.

Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.

53 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

By day two the conversation shifted to where the group sensed God wants His church to be. The participants discussed their shared vision for the mission of God’s church. They spent time exploring the difference between technical problems which leaders can usually fix with elbow grease and commitment – by rowing harder (!) – and adaptive challenges, the bigger, much more challenging problems that leaders cannot ‘fix’ alone. These require new learning and community-wide efforts – and most of all dependence upon God. And sometimes God leads us to entirely different outcomes than we have been planning for.

The day ended with a sense of purpose but also some perplexity. The group wasn’t quite sure how to summarise their reflections.

 

On the final day, things started coming together. After some reflection and prayer, the retreat’s facilitators presented four key areas of focus for the participants: collaboration and networking, fostering a missional culture, enabling leadership, and spiritual growth through prayer.

The participants agreed with these priorities and divided into groups to discuss key actions that might be taken.

St Mark’s account of the fearful and tired disciples in the boat, with Jesus joining them, reassuring them, and leading them – to a different beach than they had anticipated (see verses 53-56 above) – remained as a theme.  We were constantly reminded that the church is on a journey, navigating through uncertain waters – but that Jesus has not abandoned us, and often redirects us on the way.

The retreat wrapped up with a renewed sense of commitment and a simple acronym to guide each participant’s servant leadership: SAIL (Spiritual maturity, Active mission culture, Intentional networking, and Learning and Listening along the way).

I give thanks for the opportunity to be part of the organisation of the retreat. May I encourage you to continually hold up our leaders, the Council of Bishops, the General Church Board and all those serving to support us at the LCANZ and District levels in prayer. Thank you for your prayers for us.

Image: Pastor Stephen Schultz (SA District Assistant Bishop for Mission) leads a devotional bible study on Mark 6 at the recent LCA NZ Collaborative Mission Retreat.

But I don’t work with children!!

If you are involved in serving in a role in your congregation, you will have been asked to obtain a Working with Children Check (in Victoria) or a Working with Vulnerable People Check (in Tasmania).

You might not understand why this is so, especially if your role is not with children or young people, or those you recognise as being particularly vulnerable.

In the Lutheran Church, before a person is appointed to a role*, we want to ensure that they are suitable and so we will conduct some background screening. This includes obtaining referees and having an intentional conversation with the person to confirm that they understand the role and can manage it. We will provide some training to inform and equip the person for their role.

Obtaining a WWCC is another component of background screening. The WWCC while established primarily for use in services to children, can also be used more widely in most states and territories, and organisations are permitted, and encouraged to do this. WWCCs of some sorts are in place in all states and territories in Australia.

Thus, in the LCANZ, we use WWCC type checks as part of a range of practices which help us meet our duty of care to provide safe ministries.

So…. if you are in a role* in your congregation and don’t have a WWCC, please apply for one as soon as possible.

*************

Extra notes for congregations:

* Within the LCANZ, the following persons must hold a current working with children type check:

  • pastor on the roll of pastors (including emeritus in active service)
  • Safe Church Coordinator, ministry leader (e.g. Sunday school superintendent)
  • chaplain/elder/pastoral assistant
  • person (paid or volunteer) who directly engages with children, young people, or vulnerable persons as part of their ministry/position.
  • employee and volunteer, where and as specified in their position description.
  • board member/council member/committee member/district or General Synod delegate.

While WWCCs/WWVPs have been in use for many years now and are a crucial part of our appointment process in the LCANZ, it is important to recognise they are not failsafe, and indeed, they are limited to only identifying known perpetrators. Over-reliance on WWCCs without other background screening mechanisms is a dangerous practice. Rather, the use of WWCCs needs to be coupled with other protective measures to maintain safety in our ministries.

There are very specific requirements around the correct administration of WWCCs which are not always understood or applied well by congregations.

  • each congregation must appoint a person to have oversight of WWCCs (usually the Safe Church Coordinator). This includes keeping accurate, up-to-date, and secure records, checking congregational compliance, issuing reminders where required, and providing regular updates to Church Council.
  • The organisational details of both the congregation and the Victoria-Tasmania District must be added to every WWCC.

Information and support are available from the District Professional Standards Officer, Denise.

The Best Gift of All

This Christmas message was prepared for an audio recording to be played this Christmas season on radio 89.9 TheLight*:

What do you get for the person who has everything?

That’s a dilemma seized upon by advertisers who believe they can offer the perfect gift idea.

 

God had a different dilemma:

What do you give the person who has nothing?

Not ‘nothing’ in a material sense,

but nothing spiritually,

nothing he or she can do to live in a right relationship with Him.

 

God made us and wanted us to live with him forever,

But something spoilt that relationship.

We chose to go our own way,

And there’s nothing we can do to turn that around.

 

So, what does God give people who have nothing?

He gave his own Son, wrapped up as a human baby,

To live like us,

To take the penalty for our rebellion,

To be raised to life again.

 

Why?

So that, by trusting him, we may have everlasting life.

Then we really do have ‘everything!

 

So, let’s set our hearts on Jesus, ‘the best gift of all’!

 

 

(*)
Every year, at both Christmas and Easter, I get an invitation from a local Christian radio station, 89.9 TheLight, to record a brief message of around 160 words, which equates to about a minute in length. The radio station provides a new theme for each season.

Messages from local church leaders are repeated on 89.9 TheLight over the days of the church festival and are also played across partner radio stations (TheLight Mix, TheLight & Worship).

The challenge is to make the message simple enough and relatable to both Christian and non-Christian alike. (89.9 TheLight has about 50% of its listeners who are church goers and 50% who don’t go to church or consider themselves Christian.)

Can these bones live?

Can these bones live? Have you ever asked a question like that? When might you ask it?

You might ask such a question during a time of ill health, as you think about death, when contemplating strained or broken relationships, or when considering situations in the world.

You might ask such a question about the church as you see decline in your congregation, in Christianity more generally, or as you think about division, conflict, and other examples of our brokenness in the church.

You might ask such a question when you are so overwhelmed by guilt that you cannot hear the good news of God’s grace – his promise of complete forgiveness and restoration.

On the fifth Sunday in Lent we heard how God gave Ezekiel a vision of a valley full of dry bones and asked, “Can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37).

The people of Israel, exiled in a foreign land, had been reflecting on how their ‘ways’ and their ‘deeds’ had brought disgrace to God’s name (Ezekiel 36). In exile they had come to see the extent of their unfaithfulness toward God and were genuinely sorry for it.

However, so great was the sorrow over their sin that they were unable to hear the wonderful promise of forgiveness and restoration God gave in Ezekiel 36. (E.g., v. 24-28). They were still saying, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off” (Ezek. 37:11).

In the vision God told Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones.  The bones suddenly came together, tendons and flesh appeared on them, and skin covered them to form human beings, yet without breath. God then told Ezekiel to prophecy to the breath of God to breathe life into the lifeless bodies. They came to life and stood up – living and fully restored human beings.

God was saying to Israel, “I will forgive your sin. I will again give life to the lifeless bones of your nation. I will restore your faith and your hope.”

How might you answer if God asked a similar question when you were overwhelmed by sorrow and grief because of your sin, or by sin’s consequences in this broken world.? Can these bones live?

What ‘object lesson’ does God show you, his New Testament people, to inspire hope in your hopeless situations?

God’s greatest ‘object lesson’ is Easter. The Son of God, our Saviour, was declared dead by the Roman soldiers, taken down from the cross, and laid lifeless in a tomb. Can these bones live? You know the answer! On the third day Jesus was raised to live forever.

God’s Son “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). Because Jesus’ bones can live, you can rest assured that, by faith in him, you will also be forgiven and restored in the sight of God for all eternity.

God’s other great object lesson brings the good news of God’s forgiveness and restoration closer to home – your own baptism. You were once dead in your trespasses and sins. That was your condition from birth. Can these bones live?

God’s Word breathes his promise over you and into you, saying, “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Rom 6:3-4). Can these bones live? Sure, they can!

Yes, it is appropriate to reflect on your sinfulness and need for repentance, as Israel did. It is appropriate to come to God in daily repentance, acknowledging how your ‘ways’ and ‘deeds’ bring disgrace to his holy name; to consider the consequences of your sinfulness, in this life and for eternity.

But do not remain there. Don’t fail to hear and receive the good news of God’s forgiving and restoring grace, won for you in the death and resurrection of his Son and given to you personally in baptism.

Whether you are struggling with the effects of your own sin, or going through hardship, God’s Spirit can breathe forgiveness, new life and hope into every situation, on every day of our lives.

Even in the struggles of the church we can cling to the hope once expressed by author, G K Chesterton in reply to someone’s comment that the church was dying. “Of course!” Chesterton replied, “Christianity has died many times and risen again, for it had a God who knew the way out of the grave.”

We have that same God who knows the way out of the grave, so let us trust his Easter promise that these bones can live!

Anyone for (table) tennis?

At the beginning of the year, the LLL provided the Glen Waverley Lutheran congregation with an anniversary gift of $2,500.  We purchased two tournament grade table tennis tables, bats, nets and balls.  There was a considerable delay in their arrival so that we could not use them till November.  However, our intention to use them for outreach has paid off and we are delighted with the impact the gift has had in such a short space of time.

Our approach was to use the funds to try and reach out to people, particularly those who are not Australian born to build bridges of friendship.  After actively seeking people and talking to them, we now have a core group of table tennis players from the community who have responded to our friendship and regularly come, help set up and provide supper.

As the relationships have grown strong, some are responding to our invitations to attend special events at church.  Our next step will be to invite them to a short 3 to 5 week course on the person of Jesus.  There have been other benefits as well.  One church member has really taken the club under his wing and is providing great leadership.  We have also invited other church members to attend and make friends so that they are exposed to what the church is doing in the area of outreach and grow in hospitality themselves.  If we had more leaders, we could offer more nights of the week of table tennis!

Finally, we look forward to the time when we can employ an evangelist.  Our previous evangelist left for another job but we are praying that the Spirit will lead us to the right person, soon.  When this occurs, the evangelist will be able to assist with outreach and extend what we are doing as a congregation with activities like this.